writing dates and times for communication and interchange

overview of good and best practices
evaluating readiness for interchange
business incentives
works referenced

overview of good and best practices

in general, it is good practice to:
express calendar years to 4 numeric places.
spell out calendar months for human readers, or use a three-character abbreviation of a calendar month.
if expressing a calendar month numerically, consider the use of an ISO 8601 date interchange format such as '2007-10-02'.
not rely on the use of 'am' or 'pm' designations of times that may be ambiguous for general audiences, especially if the audiences are global.
moreover,
consider the use of calendar and clock formats that are ready for different sources of interchange.
consider the representation of calendar day-of-year elements to facilitate increased accessibility of calendar date information.
reference an appropriate style or design guide that reflects the proper use of various expressions for representing calendar dates.

evaluating readiness for interchange

sometimes communication or design calls for some additional attention to the format or expression of dates and times. some formats, styles, or usages are fine for a particular use; however might call for remedial support if used for another purpose. the year 2000 necessitated a review of data programming practices to ensure that applications that were initially written for year data to two numeric places would work properly in the context of a new century. many large organizations made a commitment to prepare operations to be Y2K-ready for the arrival of the year 2000. because of the widespread use of calendar and clock data throughout society, and due to varying complexities of different formats for representing dates and times; responsibility for Y2K readiness was not necessarily directed by a centralized authority. rather, many organizations placed responsibility for Y2K readiness with each subunit.

as a result of the transition to a new century, years that were formatted to two places in certain processes were re-formatted to four places to avoid the misrepresentation of '00' as '1900' instead of '2000'. several years after 2000, it is still a good idea to design formats for calendar year to 4 places. the use of 4 places for a calendar year makes the unit of content more clear to a general reader or user as a unit that represents a calendar year.

as the particular units of a calendar date might be expressed differently in different locales, effective communication for larger audiences calls for certain considerations. if you haven't yet reviewed your documentation processes for interchange readiness, a good way to start is to avoid dangling short-form two-place expressions of calendar dates; such as '03/05/07', that aren't as clear for a general audience as long form expressions. long-form expressions such as '03 May 2007', 'May 03, 2007, or '2007 May 03' will be clearer and thus more accessible to readers regardless of how they are accustomed to formatting calendar dates. your readers who are spending more time searching through long documents or through large groups of documents will appreciate the use of formats that communicate calendar dates effectively and accessibly.

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business incentives

effective communication for your readers and your business is worthwhile. some strategies for effective communication and design can be used and re-used, and might cost less than other remedial measures. with some planning, you can write and design calendar dates for both interchange and for communication.

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works referenced

Kuhn, Markus. A summary of the international standard date and time notation. 'http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-time.html'. 2004.
guideline 2062-01. AAT ICAS 2062: ICAS conformance level A. 'http://www.aatideas.org/icas/2062.xht'. Integrated Chronological Applications System (ICAS). Alliance for the Advancement of Technology (AAT). 2011.
ISO 8601:2004. Data elements and interchange formats -- Information interchange -- Representation of dates and times. Edition 3. International Organization for Standardization (ISO). 'http://www.iso.ch'. 2004-12-03.
Nesbitt, Pamela and Elizabeth Bagley-Woodward. "Practical Tips for Working with Global Teams." pp.25–30. Intercom 53.6, Society for Technical Communication. 'http://www.stc.org'. 2006 June.
Pejovi, Jan, and Marie-Louise Desfray Beaujouan. "Trans-Atlantic Roundtable: Oberservations from Europe and the US on International communication." pp.10–13. Intercom 53.5, Intercultural Technical Communication Issue. Society for Technical Communication. 'http://www.stc.org'. 2006 May.
St. Amant, Kirk. "Internationalizing Online Training." pp.18–21. Intercom 53.5, Intercultural Technical Communication Issue. Society for Technical Communication. 'http://www.stc.org'. 2006 May.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). 'http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT'. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). 1999.